Ceallaigh's Blog
My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power
reconstitute the world.1
This weekend, I attended the Spiritual Activism: Soil and Soul retreat held at the Tatamagouche Centre and facilitated by Isle of Lewis native Alastair McIntosh, who is perhaps best known for his work that advanced land reform on the Isle of Eigg and helped stop the proposed Harris superquarry in a National Scenic Area.2 Since then, he has devoted his life to the connections between place, spirituality and the people who inhabit them both by proposing a spirit-infused ecological activism.
I've been less than consistent with my Activism Updates and ConLangs 101 series posts, so I thought I'd write a quick note and let you know where they stand.
The Activism Updates will resume in August, when I return to work. I expect my first entry will be of the linkspam variety, followed thereafter by another book review two weeks after that and then back on a once-every-two-weeks schedule.
I'm working on the next ConLangs 101 entry right now, to be entitled ConLangs 101: Units of Speech and Writing. I should have it up within the week. I'm also planning one last entry in the series after that entitled ConLangs 101: The Primordial World Sea People. I expect I'll have it up before the end of the month1.
T. Thorn Coyle's Crafting A Daily Practice: a simple course on self-commitment is a survey of techniques designed to introduce spiritual practice to the beginner. Supplemental readings are suggested from Coyle's book Kissing the Limitless, but these aren't required, and I didn't undertake them. I should also mention that I'm not a beginner to spiritual practice but rather a lapsed practitioner seeking tools for reshaping my daily routine, and while I read the book in its entirety, I switched from the suggested practice plan to my own once I had reshaped it.
I'm delighted to report that my short story Yundah, which first appeared in the December 2005 issue of PanGaia, will be reprinted in The Shining Cities: An Anthology of Pagan Science Fiction.
Our wine appreciation experience at the Muir Murray Estate Winery was really great last night. We began with sangria on the deck, where the Annapolis Valley and the Bay of Fundy provided us with a beautiful view. Then we were taught to pair wines with food based on complimenting and contrasting flavors, something I've always wanted to learn about but have never taken the time. The chef prepared thoughtful vegan counterparts to the tasting hors d'oeuvres, and the wines themselves were lovely (I'm especially fond of the Gilgamesh Port, in part because it's delicious and in part because it's a Port called Gilgamesh).
Anyway, I can't recommend their wines too highly, and if you ever have the opportunity to attend an event there, you should!
Twilight of the World Sea People is now a polished manuscript. I'll be reading the whole novel again from the beginning over the next couple of days to tweak a few systemic errors I can't tackle with Find/Replace, but they really are just word changes here and there. By Sunday night, I'll have done all I know how to do with this novel. It will be the best book I could have written with the skills I had when I wrote it. I will finally (since books are never really finished) abandon it, and any imperfections therein I will happily live with unless and until I am asked by an agent or editor to address them.
I received a notice from my web host yesterday that there have been some technical problems with our e-mail service in recent days. So if you've sent me an e-mail since Sunday, and you don't hear back from me by tonight (I'll be answering emails later today), please send it to my Gmail address. You should find it in the signature line of any correspondence I've sent you.
This third post in the ConLangs 101 series is intended to introduce you to the biology of sending and receiving communication as it relates to constructed languages. I'll be covering speech production and reception along with other biological mechanisms capable of participating in the communication process. I'll also be introducing you to the Primordial World Sea People, the ancient species from which my World Sea People, Twilight Sea Old People and Day Sea New People descend.
Sending Communication
Speech Production
Let's start with speech, the most common method of sending communication signals among human beings. We're putting the cart before the horse a bit here, since the very first organ involved in speech production is the brain. But I write about the brain below, so we'll table that discussion for now. Instead, let's take a look at the apparatuses involved in human speech production and how they work.
I bought two beautiful new books at An Là Mòr yesterday and won a third in a door-prize drawing. Very exciting! Am Mabinogi is a mid-level hardcover book in Gaelic with full-page illustrations, Gaelic Folk and Hero Tales from Argyllshire is primarily comprised of Fenian tales in Gaelic with English translations, and the book I won, Brìgh An Òrain is a history of the great Nova Scotian singer and storyteller Lauchie MacLellan, with songs and stories both in Gaelic and English.
Note: My Gaelic class last night was really great. Shay taught us how to make two herbal medicines that we foraged, cut and prepared ourselves. I thought I'd share one of her recipes with you, but I just can't write it in English after her careful, Gaelic instruction. So for better or worse (and it's probably worse!), here it is anns a' Ghàidhlig. You can read my English translations by hovering the text.